This tutorial uses mostly digital work as examples, but the theory behind it should apply to ALL mediums. But of course it goes without saying that this is hardly the end-all-be-all of skin painting tutorials. Just my way of thinking about it.

I tried to make this accessible for artists of all skill levels. Intermediate artists will probably benefit the most. Beginners will probably find some of the principles discussed difficult to put into practice. But don’t be frustrated! The only “secret” to being a good painter is practice. And hopefully even advanced painters will be able to glean something useful.

Also-- this should go without saying, but I will say it anyway: the ONLY WAY to learn how to paint/draw anything well, let alone realistically, is to STUDY COLOR THEORY AND FORM. All the stuff I blather on about in this tutorial is meaningless unless you take the initiative to learn the fundamentals of color and figure drawing. Color theory resources can be found HERE.

Daily Deviation

Given 2009-12-01

The suggester writes: I've seen many a skin tutorial in my day, but I have to say that SKIN: a tutorial - Part 1 by *navate is the best! Not only does it cover the basics, but it also takes into consideration points about skin that most tutorials do not cover, such as the difference between normal highlights and peak highlights. There's so much subtlety in skin and this tutorial gets right to the heart of this challenging topic.
This tutorial series is not even finished yet, I'm amazed and waiting for the rest with baited breath.
Thank you for sharing! (
Suggested by AngelaSasser and Featured by
znow-white)

I don't use any special settings. My main brushes are a hard round brush with jagged edges to block in color, then a spackled brush (a brush made up of dots or dashes so it creates a painterly stroke). All I do is work on 50%-ish opacity to blend, using a cross hatching motion. No tricks. Same way I blend graphite or real paint.

Wow what a tutorial! Thank you so very much for this session I really learned a lot about applying the colour to skin! I am going to experiment with what you have taught here (alongside the second tutorial) and then apply it to my work! If you could I would like to credit you in the picture I'm doing and if you could also give me some feedback and critique, then that would be appreciated! ^_^

Oh, thanks a lot for this tutorial, i tried it and it looked really odd first, but with adding the warmth it became suddenly really nice I would not have had the idea or the overall technique without this ^^ <3

I'm currently trying to paint a skin with fairly natural look, but I'm still at loss with warmthed zones and "orange" coloring from sub scattering. It's not easy to understand which color to use on which part of a face.

Those tutorials are a blessing for my quest as I'll finally be able to understand which zones to color correctly. Thanks

Just wanted to comment that this is an extremely helpful and in-depth series of tutorials! Definitely the best, clearest one I've come across. Really helped me see how many colors are needed to create a nice skin tone. Credited here, just a practice study based on your supplement chart:alexandriatrimble.deviantart.c…

Thanks so much for this, it's so clearly written and easy to follow. I really struggle with colour and am happiest with just a graphite pencil, but you've inspired me to have another go at learning to use colour, thank you!

That is a wonderful tutorial. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to teach! You describe it so clearly, and the before/after comparison at the bottom really shows the difference your tips can make.